Sales Tax

ARTICLES ABOUT SALES TAX BY DATE - PAGE 5

By MARA LEE maralee@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, March 26, 2012

As soon as manicures, pedicures, waxing and facials began to be taxed at 6.35 percent in July, owners and managers of nail salons started to see fewer customer visits, and lower tipping. Customer visits have fallen by about 15 percent, salon owners said Monday, as about 75 nail salon owners, managers and employees gathered at the state Capitol to ask legislators to exempt these services from the sales tax. Typically, salons charge about $35 to $45 for a combined manicure-pedicure.

By JANICE PODSADA, jpodsada@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, March 19, 2012

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday that Missouri-based Scholastic Book Club Inc. should pay the state's sales tax, and owes $3.2 million plus interest and penalties going back to 1995 to the state. Justice Peter Zarella, writing the unanimous opinion, said the Scholastic Book Club has enough of presence in the state for the DRS to collect sales tax on the company's book sales. The decision, "marks an important step in holding out-of-state retailers to the same taxation rules as their Connecticut counterparts," Kevin Sullivan, commissioner of the state Department of Revenue Services, said Monday in a written statement.

By JANICE PODSADA, jpodsada@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, March 14, 2012

Diana Miner, 17, a senior at Conard High School in West Hartford, downloads about 15 songs each month from iTunes. Her most recent purchase, 10 songs from an album by the group Needtobreathe, cost her $9.99, or 99 cents a song. She might be adding about 60 cents to her costs if lawmakers levy a tax on digital downloads, including songs, e-books, smartphone applications and ring tones. A bill introduced by the General Assembly's finance, revenue and bonding committee would have consumers pay the state's 6.35 percent sales tax on any electronic transfer of a digital product that grants the purchaser “a right or license to use, retain or make a copy,” the bill says.

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, ckeating@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, January 25, 2012

In more bad financial news for the state, the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office now says the state budget deficit has grown to a projected $144.5 million. The Office of Fiscal Analysis released new numbers Wednesday night that say the state is spending more than expected and collecting less revenue than projected. Only two months ago, the same office was estimating a surplus of about $100 million in an overall state budget of about $20 billion. But the state is not collecting tax money as quickly as expected, partly because Wall Street bonuses were lower than expected at Christmas.

By DON STACOM, dstacom@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, January 20, 2012

Hit by a tag-team combination of sobering reports Friday, Connecticut legislators and planners spoke openly about two political taboos: Levying highway tolls and passing a sales tax surcharge. Coping with the state's decaying transportation infrastructure will require the courage to talk about new revenues, said Emil Frankel, who held senior transportation posts in the administrations of Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and President George W. Bush. And those revenues have to come at a time when many taxpayers want spending cuts, he said.

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, ckeating@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, December 4, 2011

With the Christmas shopping season off to a rousing start, state officials are hoping this will be the best season in years for sales taxes pouring into state coffers. The gifts being purchased at a brisk pace at malls and retail outlets from Danbury to Stonington will not only bring smiles to the faces of young children, but also to the accountants who add up the dollars the state collects. Across the country, analysts were surprised by the strength of the post-Thanksgiving sales as shoppers lined up outside big-name stores that opened late Thanksgiving night or before sunrise the next day. Nationwide, sales were up nearly 17 percent over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation.

Alcoholic beverages can be a significant source of tax revenue. A century ago, before the income tax, at least a third of federal revenue was derived from taxes on beer, wine and spirits. In Connecticut, the most recent yearly total of alcohol taxes amounted to $43 million. There's a peculiar thing about taxes, though, especially the so-called "sin taxes": Raise them too much, and people will buy elsewhere (if they can), thus depriving the state not only of the increased revenue, but of any revenue at all. That appeared to be happening this summer in Connecticut, which in July raised both the sales tax and the excise (built-in)

By KORKY VANN, kvann@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, August 19, 2011

Just in time for back-to-school shopping, Connecticut holds its annual tax-free week, starting Sunday. Consumers have through Saturday to skip paying the state's 6.35 percent sales on most clothing and footwear costing less than $300. (Here's how it works: there are no limits on how many items you can buy; as long as each individual item is priced at less than $300. Buy one pair of shoes at $100 or six pairs of shoes at $100 each; all are tax free. Buy a single pair of $300 shoes and you'll pay 6.35 percent in tax.)

By HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, July 20, 2011

The 54-year-old owner of a local bodega was arrested this week on charges he stole more than $15,000 in state sales tax. After learning of a warrant for his arrest, Vinod Bechar turned himself into tax enforcement agents from the state's Department of Revenue Services on Tuesday. He was charged with first-degree larceny and four counts of filing false sales tax returns for his business, Neelkanth Inc., which had been operating as a Speedy Mart, authorities said Wednesday. For the first-degree larceny charge, a class B felony, Bechar faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine up to $15,000 or both.

Between Sears and the Olive Garden restaurant across from the Westfarms mall, I went looking Thursday morning for a political pulse beyond the Capitol dome. Because I'm weary of all the unionist, Republican, Democrat and gubernatorial spinmeisters, Sears seemed like the right place for a middle-America perspective on a day that could bring massive state layoffs and cuts in services. Nearly everybody wanted to talk. "I think he's doing what he has got do to," Leon Skilling, from Hebron, said of Gov. Dannel Malloy's demand for cuts and layoffs in the wake of employee unions rejecting concessions.